Hundreds of tyres to be removed from bonfire site in move supported by organisers

Tyres piled up at the Conway Street site, with the wood only bonfire under construction in the distance

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Hundreds of tyres are to be removed from a bonfire site in a move supported by organisers.

The tyres have been piled up next to the Conway Street bonfire, off the Shankill in West Belfast , to be collected by Northern Ireland Environment Agency workers on Saturday morning.

And community reps involved in getting the tyres moved say they are hopeful other Eleventh Night celebrations will follow suit. The bonfire, which sits on wasteland where Conway Street and Cupar Way meet, is expected to attract several thousand people on July 11.

The decision to move the tyres comes against a backdrop of criticism of bonfire organisers for allowing tyres to be burned. It is widely believed doing so has significant environmental and health implications. However, efforts to remove them from bonfires have often been unsuccesful.

Tyres at the Conway Street site lined up ready for collection over the weekend

Organisers of the Conway Street bonfire, however, insist they want rid of the tyres.

Their removal is being facilitated by the Greater Shankill Alternatives group. Nev Gallagher, from the Alternatives group, told Belfast Live there has been an “extremely positive response” from the community in the area.

He added: “For a long time the efforts to remove tyres from bonfires has been about enforcement and all that has done has got people’s backs up. This move has been about talking to the people involved, talking to the young ones who are involved in building the bonfire and explaining to them why the tyres should go.

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“People around here don’t want to wake up to blackened windows any more than anyone else and if there’s any suggestion that the fumes are bad for you then this community obviously doesn’t want that. But the difference here is that this is being lead by the community and it’s nothing to do with money or funding.

The #1PILLWILLKILL message at Conway Street along with a 'no dumping' sign

“This bonfire isn’t Council funded, they don’t get funding and they do their own thing and that’s the way a lot of these events are going because people don’t like being told to jump through hoops to get funding.”

Mr Gallagher added that the Conway Street site, like many others, had become a dumping ground for tyres.

He said: “It’s a problem alright with people saving a couple of quid or what ever to dump them here and that’s part of the problem. They end up in the fire and some people just think that’s fine. But the organisers here went right inside the bonfire to make sure they got every single tyre out of there. They have stacked them all up then to be collected in the morning.”

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Stephen Pollock, from the Greater Shankill ACT group, was also involved in the process to get the tyres moved.

He added: “We are encouraging people to get rid of tyres on bonfires and we are getting positive feedback. I’d be hopeful that there’s at least two other major bonfires are going to follow suit when they see how it’s gone here.”

Tyres at Conway Street bonfire site with the Cupar Way peacewall in the background

Organisers are also pressing home the #1PILLCANKILL message at the event which is expected to attract a big crowd since the nearby Lanark Way bonfire has stopped after a nursery was built there. The ‘no drugs’ message is being rolled out across the city by campaigning dad William Burns who lost his son Jamie to a single pill.

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A spokesman said: “The Greater Shankill Alternatives is currently engaged with the local community in organising the removal of waste tyres from a bonfire site located at Conway Street, Shankill Road. The NIEA (through Belfast City Council ) will facilitate the removal of these tyres using our approved contractor. This is a local community-led initiative being supported and facilitated by Belfast City Council/NIEA.”